With help from U.S. forces, the Kurdish offensive against ISIS in Iraq continues to make gains. But how far will the Kurds go? And with what consequences?

MUFTI, Iraq — The pickup trucks on their way to this village in northern Iraq on Sunday kicked up the dry earth on the dirt track, clouding the air and limiting the visibility for the drivers approaching the hamlet just wrested from the so-called Islamic State with the help of elite American soldiers operating now in both Iraq and Syria.

Engines roared as the cars accelerated to avoid getting stuck in the loose earth, drowning out the drone of coalition warplanes circling above in the gradually building offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, conquered by ISIS two years ago.

Then, without warning, a sharp explosion tore through the air, and a column of smoke billowed upwards. The fighters milling around a school building at the edge of the village barely took note—this was one of nine suicide attacks the Kurds had to fend off during the day’s fighting. Previous engagements had set the arid fields on fire, and pillars of smoke reached for the sky all around Mufti.

A measure of enslaved people has increased by almost 30% since 2014.
Australian human rights group Walk Free Foundation measured the prevalence of slavery in the 167 most populous countries for its 2016 Global Slavery Index.

The index found instances of slavery in every one of the countries looked at, with 45.8 million people enslaved overall—that’s up from 35.8 million in 2014. The forms of slavery included were sex trafficking, debt bondage, and forced labor. This estimate is more than double that of the United Nation’s International Labor Organization, though the U.N. doesn’t consider all forms of slavery.

As Iraqi forces pressed an offensive Tuesday to dislodge Islamic State militants from Fallouja, conditions are worsening for tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the city, and a leading aid group raised alarm over an unfolding “human catastrophe.”

Islamic State fighters launched a fierce counterattack on the southern edge of the city, slowing the progress of the elite Iraqi counterterrorism troops, and the militants reportedly corralled civilians into a single neighborhood for use as human shields.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Almost 46 million people are living as slaves globally with the greatest number in India but the highest prevalence in North Korea, according to the third Global Slavery Index launched on Tuesday with Australian actor Russell Crowe.

The index, by Australia-based human rights group Walk Free Foundation, increased its estimate of people born into servitude, trafficked for sex work, or trapped in debt bondage or forced labor to 45.8 million from 35.8 million in 2014.

Andrew Forrest, founder of Walk Free, said the rise of nearly 30 percent was due to better data collection, although he feared the situation was getting worse with global displacement and migration increasing vulnerability to all forms of slavery.

* U.S. more willing to upset Pakistan as it pursues the Taliban
* Congress weighs new restrictions on aid to Pakistan military

The U.S. drone strike that killed the Taliban's top leader as he traveled through Pakistan reflects just how much the United States is willing to disregard an ally it increasingly sees as an obstacle to securing peace in Afghanistan.

The May 21 killing of Mullah Akhtar Mansour was an embarrassment to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government because it highlighted how -- five years after commandos killed Osama Bin Laden near an elite military academy -- a top threat to the U.S. was able to enter and leave the country with impunity. It was also a departure for U.S. strategy because it occurred in Baluchistan province, beyond the tribal areas where drones typically operate.

The strike, which both sides said was carried out without Pakistan's knowledge, was the latest signal by the U.S. of just how much mistrust has deepened as a result of Pakistan's continued, if tacit, support for the Taliban. It also shows how difficult it will be for the U.S. to reach a true end to its longest war.

The Taliban killed nine people and abducted 35 more in a series of bus attacks in the northeastern province of Kunduz on the same day that a leading humanitarian organization released a report revealing that the number of afghans internally displaced has doubled in the last three years to 1.2 million because of fighting and attacks.

Province officials said the gunmen, wearing Afghan army uniforms, forced passengers from several busses that were traveling en route to Kabul to disembark from the vehicles in Aliabad district before killing some and abducting others. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the Aliabad district chief and a spokesman for Kunduz's governor blamed the attacks on Taliban militants, who have been responsible for multiple kidnappings across the country, according to the Associated Press.

Following several terrorist attacks on the continent, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Europe on Tuesday warning Americans of the possibility of a terrorist attack in the summer months.

The grim warning says targets could include restaurants, commercial centers, tourist sites, transportation and major events. It also singled out big events happening in Europe this summer: the European Soccer Championship, the Tour de France and Catholic Church’s World Youth Day in Poland.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that for the first time since the U.S. sent special operations forces into Syria last year, an Islamic State attack wounded an American service member there.

The attack unfolded north of Raqqa, ISIS’ de-facto capital in Syria, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said. He added that a separate explosion near Irbil in northern Iraq also wounded one U.S. service member. Both were special operations fighters.

In both cases, Davis said the service members were hit by “indirect fire.” There also were reports that one of the attacks was an ISIS car bomb.

Islamic State fighters halted an Iraqi army assault on the city of Falluja with a counter-attack at its southern gates on Tuesday, while the United Nations warned of peril for civilians trapped in the city and used by militants as human shields.

The Iraqi army's assault on Falluja has begun what is expected to be one of the biggest battles ever fought against Islamic State, with the government backed by world powers including the United States and Iran, and determined to win back the first major Iraqi city that fell to the group in 2014.

REYHANLI, Turkey — Throughout the fiasco of the Pentagon’s $500 million effort to train and equip a force of Syrian rebels to take on the Islamic State, one small group endured.

The New Syrian Army completed the U.S. training course in Jordan, infiltrated into Syria and then, in March, without fanfare or publicity, seized a pinprick of territory from the militants at the remote Tanaf border crossing with Iraq in the far southeast corner of the Syrian province of Homs.

There they have remained, holding their ground without deserting, defecting or getting kidnapped, unlike many of the other similarly trained rebels whose mishaps prompted the temporary suspension of the program last year.

Even this modest success is now in jeopardy, however, following an Islamic State suicide attack this month. An armored vehicle barreled into the rebels’ base shortly before dawn on May 7, killing a number of them, said Lt. Col. Mohammed Tallaa, a Syrian officer who defected and is the group’s commander.

Terror group launches counterattack but Iraqi commander says the group of about 100 fighters was eventually repelled

Iraqi forces faced tough resistance from Islamic State fighters as they attempted to enter the centre of Falluja, where there are fears for tens of thousands of trapped civilians.

A day after announcing a push into the city, the last major population centre held by Isis in western Iraq, forces led by Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service were met by a counterattack in the southern Naimiya district on Tuesday.

Washington (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will depart Tuesday for an Asian security summit in Singapore, where Beijing's military expansion across the South China Sea likely will once again dominate discussions.

Regional neighbors are fretting over what they see as China's expansionism as it rushes to exert sovereignty over the waterway, a major global shipping route believed to be home to large oil and gas reserves.

China is using dredgers and other tools to convert low-lying ocean features and sandy blips into military bases.

A Pentagon report this month said China has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land to the seven features it occupies in the Spratly Islands archipelago.

It's not just that its books don't add up. The Department of Defense is actively disguising how it spends its funds.

Now you see it, now you don’t. Think of it as the Department of Defense’s version of the street con game, three-card monte, or maybe simply as the Pentagon shuffle. In any case, the Pentagon’s budget is as close to a work of art as you’re likely to find in the U.S. government — if, that is, by work of art you mean scam.

The United States is on track to spend more than $600 billion on the military this year — more, that is, than was spent at the height of President Ronald Reagan’s Cold War military buildup, and more than the military budgets of at least the next seven nations in the world combined. And keep in mind that that’s just a partial total. As an analysis by the Straus Military Reform Project has shown, if we count related activities like homeland security, veterans’ affairs, nuclear warhead production at the Department of Energy, military aid to other countries, and interest on the military-related national debt, that figure reaches a cool $1 trillion.

An obscure decision over a military base has turned into a Washington knife fight, with a leading congressman accusing the Pentagon of trying to stab him in the back.

Rep. Devin Nunes, the powerful chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has accused the Defense Department of misleading members of Congress about the cost of building a new military intelligence center at a base on a set of idyllic islands in middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

But now, the Pentagon is turning the tables on the congressman, arguing that he’s the one not playing straight and questioning his motives for suggesting an alternative site. The dispute has turned what’s normally a humdrum affair—decisions on where to build military facilities—into an old-fashioned Washington knife fight.

Nunes is even accusing the Pentagon of straying into “criminal territory” and using borderline-racist tactics.

WNU Editor: A politician having a preference on where a military facility should be built is nothing new in Washington (or anywhere else). But in this case .... I do not see how building and maintaining a military base on an island that is out of the way can be cheaper than building it in a place like Britain.

WNU Editor: More fuel to the fire for the anti-Trumpers. But politics aside .... this looks like a major reversal for North Korea on an earlier Donald Trump suggestion. It appears that North Korea is now hinting that they are open to Donald Trump's earlier suggestions that he is willing to talk directly to North Korea .... US election: Donald Trump open to talks with North Korea (BBC), even though they had rejected when it was first made .... North Korean envoy rejects Trump overture to meet leader(Reuters). My advice to Donald Trump .... do not take the bait.

More News On North Korea State Media Endorsing Donald Trump Over Hillary Clinton

In the latest embarrassment for the communist nation of North Korea, a ballistic missile thought to have a range of 2,500 miles failed to launch early Monday morning, Pentagon officials confirmed to Fox News.

This medium-range Musudan blew up shortly after takeoff, according to officials briefed on the latest intelligence. The missile had the potential to hit U.S. military bases as far away as Guam.

"They are 0-4" one official said describing North Korea's most recent missile launch attempts. The failures could help calm recent fears that the North was pushing quickly toward its goal of a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States.

WNU Editor: This North Korean official is a very important member in Kim Jong-un's inner circle .... he watched over Kim Jung-un when he was attending school in Switzerland. Posting the above photo is also a surprise .... the North Koreans rarely permit pictures of their diplomats to be taken when they go abroad on a special trip. As for the visit itself .... this tells me that North Korea is worried about sanctions, and it looks like they have just convinced the Chinese that it is not in their interest to enforce the more stringent measures .... N. Korea, China agree to boost ties amid int'l sanctions (Korea Times).

WNU Editor: The Chinese are looking at the long term .... decades ahead in fact. In this context .... the U.S. will probably fade away from the region in the coming years. Then again this conversation may become mute .... if man-made global warming is true, these reclaimed islands will be under water within 20 years.

China will "pressure" the United States on maritime issues at talks in Beijing next week because of Chinese concern about an increased U.S. military presence in the disputed South China Sea, a major state-run newspaper said on Tuesday.

China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation.

"Beijing will pressure Washington over maritime issues during the upcoming Strategic and Economic Dialogue, as the United States' increasing military presence in the South China Sea is among China's major concerns," the official China Daily said, citing unidentified officials.

A member of the U.S. Army's explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) unit scans the area around a burning M-ATV armored vehicle after it struck an improvised explosive device (IED) near Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 23, 2010. REUTERS/BOB STRONG

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND — As sometimes happens in rural America, someone has shot up a road sign. Given the gape of the hole and the fact that the road traverses Aberdeen Proving Ground, there’s a good chance it wasn’t made by a bullet.

A proving ground is a spread of high-security acreage set aside for testing weapons and the vehicles meant to withstand them. I’m headed for Aberdeen’s Building 336, where combat vehicles come to be up-armored — as the military likes to up-say — against the latest threats.

Mark Roman, my host this morning, oversees the Stryker “family” of armored combat vehicles. He’ll be using them for an impromptu tutorial in personnel vulnerability: the art and science of keeping people safe in a vehicle that other people are trying to blow up.

“It was the Kurds,” wrote Thomas Friedman in 2014, “who used the window of freedom we opened for them to overcome internal divisions, start to reform their once Sopranos-like politics and create a vibrant economy that is now throwing up skyscrapers and colleges.”

This has become the popular story of Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Regional Government that has circulated increasingly in Washington and London. According to this narrative, Iraq’s Kurds have been long oppressed, but instead of collapsing into internal conflict as many liberated societies in the region do, they have pressed ahead with democracy.

A video has appeared on the Internet showing the capabilities of a new German tank – the MBT Revolution.

The video is said to have been posted on the German group Rheinmetall’s official YouTube channel, according to the website warspot.ru.

The vehicle, according to the developers, is planned to become a serious competitor to Armata tanks, however if that is the case it will happen no earlier than 2030.

In fact, this model is a modernized version of the Leopard 2A4 using the modular technology. It should not only replace its predecessor in Germany, but also the Leclerc tank which is in service with the French army.

In 2020, as today, the carrier air wing will remain the surface U.S. Navy’s chief carrier-killer. U.S. CVNs can carry about 85 tactical aircraft. While estimates of the size of a future Chinese flattop’s air wing vary, let’s take a high-end estimate of 50 fixed-wing planes and helicopters. That means, conservatively speaking, that the U.S. CVN’s complement will be 70 percent larger than its PLA Navy opponent’s.

And in all likelihood, the American complement will be superior to the Chinese on a warbird-for-warbird basis. It appears future PLA Navy flattops will, like Liaoning, be outfitted with ski jumps on their bows to vault aircraft into the sky. That limits the weight—and thus the load of fuel and weapons—that a Chinese aircraft can haul while still getting off the flight deck.

Many take time on Memorial Day to remember the Americans who have given their lives in service to our country.

For veterans and their families, that sentiment of remembrance is felt year-round. Many veterans suffer lifelong anguish over the loss of their brothers and sisters in arms. For them, Memorial Day is a day like every other day – a day they remember those who died at war.

This shared grief is just one way some veterans are affected by their military service. Veterans are also molded by military culture – a unique set of values, traditions, language and even humor. Military culture has unique subcultures, but it has enough consistency across different branches, ranks and time periods to make most veterans feel a kinship.

WNU Editor: I can personally identify with this. Growing up my father's bess friends were his fellow veterans. They would always get together on Saturday, my mom would make supper, and after supper they would play cards, drink, and talk about everything .... politics, the war, fallen comrades .... till one or two in the morning. When my parents immigrated to Canada in the 1990s .... he quickly met fellow veterans here .... Russian emigrants who had a chance to escape to the West after the war, and with two retired U.S. Navy SEALs who served in Vietnam. Same story .... food, drink, and talk.

In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day and President Barack Obama’s scheduled trip to Vietnam, a prominent Vietcong communist leader privately thanked American anti-war activists for helping defeat the U.S.-allied government in Vietnam in the 1970s, saying protest demonstrations throughout the United States were “extremely important in contributing to Vietnam’s victory.”

For Vietnamese guerrilla leader Madam Nguyen Thi Binh, who sent the private letter from Hanoi dated April 20, “victory” meant the communist takeover of South Vietnam. The letter addressed veteran American anti-war activists who gathered in Washington, D.C., at a May 3 reunion of radical “May Day” anti-war leaders.

The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained a copy of the letter at the meeting.

Read more....WNU Editor: I first read up on this story in a Russian publication a few weeks ago .... but it is only now that someone in the U.S. is posting this story. Here is an easy bet .... no one in the main stream media is going to touch this story .... especially on Memorial Day. As to what is my take .... I was too young during this time to follow the war, but later .... when I was old enough to ask questions about the Vietnam war .... many old Soviet hands credited the anti-war movement and a hostile mainstream press for helping them and their Vietnamese allies to stick-it-out (even though many had wanted to end it) and to win the war. Viet Cong Leader Nguyễn Thị Bình's letter and thanks is just another confirmation of that.

The US newest weapon, the railgun, is of no surprise to Moscow and Russia is also developing one of its own, the first deputy of the Russian upper house’s Defense and Security Committee said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier, the Wall Street Journal published the first pictures of the railgun, in development for a decade. Transforming a 25-pound projectile into nothing short of a battlefield meteorite obliterating anything on its path, the weapon does not use gunpowder or any explosives. It is instead powered by electromagnetic rails.

NATO has urged member nations to stand up to what it calls "Russia's military assertiveness." The head of the military alliance has also pledged to strengthen the alliance's forces along its eastern borders.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in Warsaw to lay the groundwork for NATO's July summit, said: "I expect leaders at Warsaw to agree on an enhanced forward presence in the east of the alliance."

"An attack on any ally will be swiftly met by the forces from across the alliance, from both sides of the Atlantic," he added.

NATO cut cooperation with Moscow following Russia's Ukraine intervention and annexation of Crimea in 2014. However, the US-led alliance has said it will hold formal talks with Moscow before the July 8-9 summit in Warsaw.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Emine Erdogan, greets supporters during a rally to mark the 563rd anniversary of the conquest of the city by Ottoman Turks, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 29, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has accused Russia of providing anti-aircraft weaponry and rockets to militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), government officials said on Monday, confirming reports in local media.

Speaking to reporters on board his airplane after a visit to the southeastern province of Diyarbakir over the weekend, Erdogan accused Moscow of transferring weaponry to the PKK via Iraq and Syria, the pro-government Star newspaper said.

"At this moment, terrorists are using anti-aircraft guns and missiles supplied by Russia. The separatist terrorist organization is equipped with these weapons. They have been transferred to them via Syria and Iraq," the newspaper reported Erdogan as saying.

About Me

I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.